Channel 4 News to launch 'hard-hitting' weekly show on new Facebook video platform funded by social network

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Channel 4 News is partnering with Facebook’s video service to produce a weekly news show in an effort to “increase the visibility and reach of high-quality sources of news” on social media platforms.

Launching in the new year, Uncovered will see Channel 4 News correspondents go behind the headlines for an in-depth analysis of global stories that often go unreported, focusing on a single international issue in each ten-minute episode, the broadcaster said.

Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear said: “When the credibility of news is being constantly challenged, never has it been more important to increase the visibility and reach of high-quality sources of news across social network platforms.

“That is why we are excited to work with Facebook Watch, bringing together compelling content on a platform that connects audiences with timely and reliable news videos, produced by serious news organisations and being properly funded.”

Uncovered will create “hard-hitting” and “revelatory” original content made exclusively for Facebook Watch in a made-for-mobile vertical format.

The series is one of Facebook’s funded news shows, which means the social platform pays Channel 4 News and other partner publishers to provide exclusive content for Watch.

Facebook previously said in a statement that the publishers have full editorial control of their shows, and that it would work closely with them to experiment with different formats and discover what works best.

Shelley Venus, Facebook’s video lead for news partnership said: “Channel 4 News has a proven track record for engaging their audiences with investigative reporting.

“I look forward to seeing how Uncovered highlights unreported international issues in a mobile-first format and shows people what else is happening in the world.”

In June Facebook created a dedicated section for “high quality and timely news content” within Facebook Watch and announced its first funded news shows from a number of US news publishers including ABC News, CNN and Fox News.

Facebook Watch was expanded globally in August, a year after its US launch, and BBC News became the first non-US publisher to announce a funded news show for the service in September.

BBC News will launch Cut Through The Noise, a weekly news show aimed at US audiences, by the end of this year.

The series, which is also made-for-mobile and will tackle a single issue each week, will be presented by BBC News journalists from its Washington DC bureau or from the field and “offer expertise from around the world on a broad range of issues that matter to US audiences”.

In a statement released in September, BBC Global News chief executive Jim Egan said: “Social media is an important source of news and information for many Americans, so we are always looking for new ways of bringing our audiences high quality, non-partisan news coverage they can trust from around the world.”